Earlier on in the year I met and became friends with Christy Morgan AKA The Blissful Chef. During her 6 weeks in Thailand we spent nearly every weekend together cooking up a storm and going to restaurants. It was so nice to spend time with someone who has such similar interests. After her return to the US I have happily been watching her work; educating people in Texas through her cooking classes and events. Christy had her first book released just a few months ago and she mailed me a copy of her book. It seemed to take forever to arrive but finally it did!

Her approach is raw and macrobiotic and low in fat so it is ridiculously healthy. It is such a beautiful book and so well designed. The recipes are sorted by seasons and clearly labelled as soy free, gluten free and also by how long they take to cook. In these days where there are so many fantastic vegan cookbooks on the market, it must be hard to do something that will make a mark and I really think she has managed to do so.

I have created a number of recipes from her book already, (I’ve got bowl of her Hearty Lentil Soup on the stove right now) but real standouts so far have been her incredible salad dressings and her Macro Mac and Cheese. Now I have had MANY veg mac and cheese recipes. Most call for non-dairy cheese, or cashew nuts , or non dairy milk but not Christy’s. Hers has butternut pumpkin and tahini and it was absolute delicious. So incredibly creamy and I will agree that it did not taste the same as conventional mac and cheese but it certainly ticked the boxes of creamy, comforting and satisfying and so healthy and nutrient density was really high. I am sure I will blogging more from Christy’s book in future! I should also note that Christy uses very little processed foods like vegan mayo or Earth Balance which means it is great book to have in Asia where such foods are difficult to locate and are also pricey. Thank you Christy for all the work you do and creating such a wonderful book.

Christy is heading back to USA on Monday. Boo….. We went out for Japanese to celebrate. I’d never been to Uzuki Restuarant on Sukhumvit Soi 11 before. It was recommended by a friend as being quite vegan friendly and indeed it was. I am really new to Japanese cuisine and I have to say I am getting rather partial to it. The eggplant in miso sauce was outstanding. I also adore steamed edamame beans. While there is not the range of Chijuya, I’d go back just for the eggplant.

One of my delightful colleagues, Sam has two equally delightful teenaged girls. They will be heading off on to university in a couple of years, and Sam is keen to give them a few lessons in cooking so that they can prepare healthy, cheap and nutritious food so we arranged for them all to come to my house today to do some cooking. They do not have much experience in baking, so we decided to start with some delicious jam filled oat bran muffins and choc brownies. They did a fantastic job. Such a lovely afternoon. 🙂

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Last night some friends came over to another friends’ house to celebrate my birthday with a lovely BBQ. Christy came over and helped with some of the dishes. She made a delicious tofu satay and some kebabs. I focussed on dessert as I was dying to use my new ice cream machine that Seb bought me for my birthday. I made ice cream sandwiches. It was awesome. 🙂

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Today was so lovely. I felt like a ‘lady that lunches’. I started the day with a yoga class, then went and had a mani-pedi then headed over to Loving Hut before going for a massage. I have never been there before as it just seems so far! It took Christy and her TV premiere to get me to go. Christy and I pulled together a crew and we had a super lunch.